Her name is Catie Parker and her 15 minutes of fame is upon her. She is a liberal and may have saved Sarah Palin and the Tea Party a huge amount of ill will in the wake of the Arizona shootings. She was the classmate and self described "really good friend" of the Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner. She was also in a band with him. Her comments have set the blog world and media on fire with her description that the shooter was "left wing, quite liberal". This flies in the face of the Palin/Tea Party connection narrative that many in the media and on the internet have been pushing.

Parker, who's comments about the left wing politics of the shooter have been cited in this morning's NYTimes, was one of many who tried to place blame on Sarah Palin for putting out a map that "targeted" districts (including Congresswoman Giffords') where Republicans should focus their election efforts.

Parker describes herself on her MySpace Page as liking Environmentalism and Animal Rights while loathing Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, so it would appear her comments can not easily be dismissed as the ravings of a Tea Party or Palin supporter.

Parker first mentioned her possible connection to the shooter on her twitter account: "Saying Jared Laughner was the gunman. Really hoping that's not the same guy I went to HS with, really good friend. Freaking out right now!!!"

She then realized it was him: "Official I went to high school & college, & was in a band w/ the gunman. I can't even fathom this right now."

Her comments began to get noticed when she tweeted her relationship to an employee of Reuters Media, Anthony De Rosa, who has nearly 4,000 followers on his Twitter site.

De Rosa conducted the first interview with Ms. Parker, asking her confirm the shooter's myspace and YouTube accounts and asked about the shooters state of mind. Parker replied "He was a political radical & met Giffords once before in '07, asked her a question & he told me she was "stupid & unintelligent""

De Rosa then asked the money question: "did he identify himself as a member of the Tea Party?" To which Ms. Parker gave the answer that would stun the mainstream media world..."As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy."

De Rosa then asked: "Was he closely tied to any groups or mainly a loner?" To which Ms. Parker answered: "he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven't seen him in person since '07 in a sign language class"

De Rosa himself came under attack for seeming to lend help against the false narrative that the shooter was somehow connected to Palin. He posted "i'm the furthest thing from a Sarah Palin fan, I'm reporting the facts".

De Rosa then worked to arrange contact with ABC news and Jake Tapper while Ms. Parker started to get overwhelmed with the comment "This is a circus. Good Morning America just called me."

De Rosa has gone on to link to the 40 media requests including the NYTimes, NPR, and PBS that are pouring in for Ms. Parker.

I had a chance to tweet with Ms. Parker and here is a screenshot of our conversation (note-read from bottom up as newer posts are on top):

In the case of the Arizona shooter, one would think that these clues...:

having a flag burning video as your favorite video having Mein Kampf as one of your favorite books having said "America is a terrorist nation" having said "America is in two illegal wars" having said you "Do not trust in God" having become upset at receiving a Bible when you checked off "no religion" at a military installation having a drug arrest having hung out with the "Goth Crowd" having smoked pot and "wasn't too keen on religion"

...would make it hard for anyone to claim a motivation from conservatives, the Tea Party, or Sarah Palin.

Sadly it wasn't enough. Instead it took a liberal, an honest liberal like Catie Parker, to stop the mob mentality and set the record straight.

It’s not all lost though . . . as I flip through my boilerplate list of liberal frames for stories . . . Aha! . . . The shooter was a victim . . . It’s Sarah Palin’s fault because her anti-ObamaCare stance kept this poor disturbed individual from getting the mental health help he needed . . . let’s toss that story out there and see if it sticks any better than the “he was a Tea Partier” boilerplate. Note to journalists: truth is irrelevant, if not completely fictional, and what matters is building a tidal wave of stories repeating the approved talking points.

10
posted on 01/09/2011 3:31:28 AM PST
by Pollster1
(Natural born citizen of the USA, with the birth certificate to prove it)

I received tweets last night ranging from statements that his earlier leanings don’t count because he ranted about gold standard, property rights, etc. later which means he’s not a Leftist anymore, to one which actually made the claim that once a person resorts to violence they are no longer a liberal.

I doubt Ms. Parker’s input is going to have much impact. A lot of those on the left seem to already have their minds made up. But I wish her well and I hope she doesn’t get smeared by the media.

Won’t work. She admits to being good friends with him. She admits to being in a band with him, which presumably means there were other members who could testify to his drug use/political leanings, whatever.

She basically opened up a can of worms... a can of worms about as big as Mt. Everest!

Sarah Palins fault because her anti-ObamaCare stance kept this poor disturbed individual from getting the mental health help he needed . . . lets toss that story out there and see if it sticks any better than the he was a Tea Partier boilerplate.

Thanks to the Internet, it won't work becuse it'll be the same group of people trying the different ploy. Had there been no records, they could have gotten away with "what I really meant was..." - but not now. They've washed their dirty linen in public, and it can't be erased.

You said he would be destroying evidence, not just running his mouth. My point is that he’s probably not in charge of the investigation and can’t destroy anything. As long as he’s just running his mouth he can’t harm the investigation.

34
posted on 01/09/2011 5:13:15 AM PST
by saganite
(What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)

I don’t know if she’s an honest liberal, or just not media savvy enough to realize that liberals normally all band together and support the narrative of the moment, that the shooter is a Tea Party member. After she’s been contacted privately by members of our governing and media elite, look for her comments to change.

36
posted on 01/09/2011 5:22:10 AM PST
by Hardastarboard
(Bringing children to America without immigration documents is child abuse. Let's end it.)

Well, I'm happy we'll have verifiable reality to beat the Sarah Palin-narrative pushing left wing loonies over the head with.

And if I hear at work on Monday how this shows we need more restrictive gun control laws, I'll say, "Yes, find a way to restrict Muslim terrorists and left-wing nut jobs from having guns and you'll be most of the way there. Fortunately, the most effective way of dissuading them, as well as the common criminal, is not a belief in the tremendous efficiency in the criminal justice system in apprehending and bringing them to a swift trial but a fear that an armed private citizen will put them in a place with no time off for good behavior and no early release to relieve prison overcrowding." Something like that.

I agree. She should take some precautions and go low-profile for a while. If I were her, i’d take down any facebook or myspace page i might have. any information about myself that might be publically available.

49
posted on 01/09/2011 7:20:28 AM PST
by sauropod
(The truth shall make you free but first it will make you miserable.)

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